Highlights and one story: Dave grew up at 905 Clinton Street in Kalamazoo Michigan. He attended St. Joseph's Grade School and graduated from Hackett Hight School in 1971. He had three older sisters: Sally, Mary and Peg and an only brother, Tom, born three years before him. Tom lived with Dave for a short time in Hollywood California in 1972 and remained close throughout the years. One of his good friends from that period was Richard (Dick) Titus. They had dreams of creating together. In 2014, Richard wrote and illustrated a book that he knew Dave would have liked: The Gift of the Quoxxel which is available in an Amazon Kindle edition:
Another good friend was Joni Crookston. Dave and Joni were married in 1973 and lived in Hollywood, California and Monterey among other places. Dave and Joni also lived and worked for a time in San Juan Bautista while Dave did art work on restoring the mission: . They were divorced sometime in the 1980's but remained friends. At the end of Dave's life he had been in a loving relationship with Pamela Walker, the author of
Moving Over the Edge: Artists with Disabilities Take the Leap. Dave is mentioned in this work.
One funny story . . .
When Dave needed to return to Michigan in 1973 to get married, he and his brother Tom were hired to drive a 24' U-Haul truck full of furniture back to Wisconsin. His 1972 AMC Gremlin was pulled behind it. Somewhere on Interstate I-25 near Los Vegas, New Mexico while Dave was driving mid-morning, he dozed off and ran off the road. Trying to pull it back on the highway, the truck bounced and tipped over in the middle of the Interstate. A magistrate in Los Vegas took pity on him in his sawmill makeshift court room because he was headed back to East to get married so he only scolded Dave and did not charge him with reckless driving (but the experience quite memorable nonetheless).
Another good friend was Joni Crookston. Dave and Joni were married in 1973 and lived in Hollywood, California and Monterey among other places. Dave and Joni also lived and worked for a time in San Juan Bautista while Dave did art work on restoring the mission: . They were divorced sometime in the 1980's but remained friends. At the end of Dave's life he had been in a loving relationship with Pamela Walker, the author of
Moving Over the Edge: Artists with Disabilities Take the Leap. Dave is mentioned in this work.
One funny story . . .
When Dave needed to return to Michigan in 1973 to get married, he and his brother Tom were hired to drive a 24' U-Haul truck full of furniture back to Wisconsin. His 1972 AMC Gremlin was pulled behind it. Somewhere on Interstate I-25 near Los Vegas, New Mexico while Dave was driving mid-morning, he dozed off and ran off the road. Trying to pull it back on the highway, the truck bounced and tipped over in the middle of the Interstate. A magistrate in Los Vegas took pity on him in his sawmill makeshift court room because he was headed back to East to get married so he only scolded Dave and did not charge him with reckless driving (but the experience quite memorable nonetheless).
